The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c10.283

v1.c10.283

Of smaller vessels for water, Illustration No. 153A shows a remarkable specimen from the Great Tower; it is a water carafe or goblet in which water was served out, or kept for ready use. In Calcutta, a vessel somewhat similar to it was in use until thirty years ago, when it went out of fashion. (Illustration No. 153B). It was made of metal either brass or silver, and known under the name of *amṛti* or the "nectar bottle", from which it would not be unreasonable to infer that it was likewise used for holding more potent fluids than water. In shape it was very much like a hock bottle, and it stood from nine to fourteen inches in height; it was capacious enough to hold from a pint to a quart and a half of fluid. It was set before guests, who poured out the fluid into a smaller vessel or *loṭā* for use. Illustrations Nos. 154, 155, 156 and 157 also represent vessels into which fluids were drawn from the *Kalasas* or jars, and kept until required for use, when their contents had to be poured out into cups or goblets. They occupied the place of the modern *loṭā*, but differed from it in being provided with covers. From several illustrations in Mr. Fergusson's *Tree and Serpent Worship*, it would seem that they were used largely as decanters for wine, and in this respect they occupied the same position in the domestic economy of the Hindus which the *arnstichos*, *arntaina*, *arnstêr* and *khuados* did in that of the Greeks, or the *simpulum* and *trulla* in that of the ancient Romans, the *kalasa* representing the mixing vase or *khrater*. Of cups or goblets for drinking wine, Illustrations, Nos. 158 and 159 show typical specimens. They are common both at Bhuvaneśvara and Sāñcī. This distinction of decanters and drinking cups is indicated in Sanskrit works, in which decanters, or vessels for serving out wine, (*madya-pariveṣaṇa-pātra*), are named severally, *saraka* and *anutarṣṇa*, and the drinking cups *pānapātra*, *caṣaka*, *pārī*, and *pārika*. The modern Hindi and Bengali *sorāi* is a corruption of the *saraka*, and the name is now applied to a goblet. The cup for drinking wine was made of a very small size, and the Tantras limit its capacity to two, three or five *tolās*,¹³³ the largest containing barely two ounces, and, considering that the liquor drunk was generally raw spirit, it was the largest that would be convenient. It is worthy of note, however, that the largest was just of the same size as a modern English wine glass and the smallest a liqueur glass. For curries, sherbets, and other articles of food and drink, cups were of course made of a larger size. One of them is shown in Illustration No. 160. It is remarkable as being four-sided, and not circular as cups usually are. Illustration No. 161 shows a large bowl such as is now used for milk, soup and other fluids drunk in large quantities. No. 162 is a large, handsome bowl designed for holding solid food; it occurs in the hand of Gaṇeśa's in the Great Tower, and is represented holding a number of ball-shaped sweetmeats (*maticura*) which the elaphocephalic divinity is leisurely taking up with his trunk. The betel-box and spittoon have already been noticed. Water-pots with a spout on one side, (Sk. *bhṛṅgāra*) are common in Bhuvaneśvara, and a vessel very like a tea-kettle appears at Sāñci. (Illustration No. 163) It was used for sprinkling holy water before a sacred procession, even as the *gāḍu* is in the present day. Āśvalāyana recommends urns with spouts as appropriate for the sepulchre of relics of females.